Cannily selected as
an hour-long recital the principal competition
to Williams and Burnside’s triptych
of Finzi’s settings comes from Varcoe
and Benson on a long established Hyperion
disc. The exception is Let Us Garlands
Bring, not sung by Varcoe and Benson
but which Terfel has contributed in
two different recordings, one for Decca
and the other for DG. The orchestrated
setting of the same cycle has been recorded
by Christopher Maltman for Hyperion
- though that is less of a direct comparison
than the two Terfels.

I have to admit a certain
amount of surprise that the current
discography is so sparse in respect
of I Said To Love and Before
and After Summer. The former is
particularly attractive lyrically whilst
the latter, if uneven, offers one of
Finzi’s biggest and most powerful settings,
Channel Firing. Nevertheless
Williams and Burnside prove perceptive
if, from time to time, reticent ambassadors.
This reservation tends to apply more
to Williams than Burnside; in For
Life I Had Never Cared Greatly the
climax is not quite dramatic or flaring
enough – there’s not that sense of manly
braggadocio one gets from Varcoe – and
in this song, especially, one notices
how Williams has a tendency to role
his "R" to combustion point.
The song that gives its name to the
cycle I Said To Love illustrates
other cultivated intimacies explored
by this duo; Williams doesn’t have a
stentorian voice, and he abjures interventionist
colouring of the texts; the voice is
lighter, tighter and more focusedly
intimate than Varcoe’s; Burnside uses
less pedal than Benson and the result
is a subtly different kind of interpretation.

Such things matter
perhaps more in the Shakespeare settings,
Let Us Garlands Bring. Williams
brings a smoothness and equability to
these settings – straightforward, attractive,
and unselfconscious. Turn to, say, John
Carol Case however in his classic disc
of the orchestral version of the cycle
(not currently available) and we find
a singer responding with constant colour
and inflexion, with superfine awareness
of the lyrics. I have to say I find
Williams rather inert hereabouts. In
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
the register change seems a mite effortful
but more problematic is the relatively
bland word painting; Carol Case may
have sometimes painted with a broad
brush but his thunder and lightning
flash remain imperishable memories.
A contemporary such as Terfel has inherited
something of Carol Case’s rich pointing
and in his recordings he’s to be preferred
as well.

Before and After
Summer sees this pairing consistently
slower than Varcoe and Benson. I liked
Burnside "guns" in Channel
Firing, though Williams doesn’t
lighten his voice for significant parts
of the text, such as lines like "our
coffins" – as Varcoe was at pains
to do. In the title song however Williams’
noble straightness pays dividends even
though I can’t help feel that Varcoe
and Benson made more sense of the song’s
structure (it can easily sound broken
backed).

Much here is thoughtfully
and attractively done and at its price
bracket you won’t be short-changed.
Burnside is invariably elucidatory but
for a deeper revelation of these songs
I would prefer Varcoe/Benson in the
Hardy songs and Terfel in the Shakespeare.

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